when our defense spending is being arbitrarily and deeply cut. when we have no trade agenda to speak of, and the perception of our strategy is not one of partnership, but of passivity. the greater tragedy of it all is that we're missing an historic opportunity to win new friends who share our values in the middle east. friends who are fighting for their own futures against the very same violent extremists and evil tyrants and angry mobs who seek to harm us. unfortunately so many of these people who could be our friends feel that our president is indifferent to their quest for freedom and dignity. as one syrian woman put it, we will not forget that you forgot about us. it's time to change course in the middle east. that course should be organized around these bedrock principles. america must have confidence in our cause, clarity in our purpose, and resolve in our might. no friend of america will question our commitment to support them. no enemy that attacks america will question our resolve to defeat them, and no one anywhere, french or foe, will